Secrets & Lies
by Reluctant Flame
Summary: UPDATED! Chapter 7 now up...When is Bosco going to learn his lesson and start listening to Faith's advice? Please read & review.
1. Introducing

**Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own anything "Third Watch" but thanks to the guys who came up with the concept - You rock! Original characters (Seraphina, Rosa, Haylee etc)are my all own.

**So It Begins...**

The shop was full of people – teens jostling around a display of horror movies whilst a middle aged couple argued over a new release. Amidst the noise and mayhem, Sera heard her name called sharply. She turned to see her mother gesticulating wildly.

"Seraphina! Please save your cousin from the wretched woman."

Rosa turned to Camilla and groaned, "She's here every week, without fail! Whining and moaning 'Look at the price of this…you've got none of those.'" Camilla nodded. "It's always one thing or another. She needs another hair treatment or her rheumatism is acting up." Rosa shook her head sadly, wishing the older woman would make her purchase and leave.

Seraphina tutted at her mother "Mama don't be like that, she's just lonely." Camilla rolled her eyes and continued to stack shelves. "You go play nice with her then, keep her company." Rosa suggested sulkily. Seraphina shook her head "I'd love too I'm going to be late for work." Rosa looked at her pretty daughter disapprovingly "I thought you were giving your notice." Seraphina sighed, "They need me Mama, they are already short staffed. Look don't stay open too late, it's not safe." She warned her mother whilst shrugging into a light denim jacket.

"You know we do our best business after dark." Camilla scolded her. "Fine but you call Bruno and get him to come and help you later okay. Call me when you close, let me know you're home safe." Seraphina shook her head at the role reversal, here she was playing worried parent to her mothers rebelliousness. "Go you'll be late!" Rosa insisted shoving Seraphina outside. She wrapped her only daughter in a warm embrace and kissed her cheek, smoothing down her wavy hair. "You know I hate it when you work at that place. You be safe tonight." "I always am Mama; call me when you get home. Bye Aunt Milla!" She called as she wrapped her scarf around her neck and headed off in the crisp September air.

Autumn was her favorite time of year. Leaves turned burnt shades of red and gold and drifted to the ground in a mimic of what would follow in the coming months of winter. Seraphina wandered down the familiar streets of Manhattan, walking a path she knew as well as she knew her name. She used to walk this exact route with her mother when she was much younger, going to see her father Henry at work. She could remember being eight years old, her long hair braided down her back, swinging with her childish gait as she and her Mama passed the other people and businesses that made up 'Little Italy'. Some had closed down or moved on since then; several though had stayed in the hands of the original owners. Others still were passed along family lines, to children and grand children who had updated their parents businesses. The result was an eclectic mix of old traditional shops mixed with modern flashy stores. Seraphina loved this place; it was home.

She slowed to a stroll at the Gabrielli grocery knowing that the owner Valentino, would come rushing out to tell her about a son or nephew who would be her perfect match. Tobias, Valentino's oldest son, greeted her today. "Good afternoon Miss Jasper, I see you are running late again."

"Yes I am." Seraphina laughed, enjoying Tobias's light mood.

"And yet you will stop to talk with me." Tobias stated slowly, thinking for a moment. "Then Papa is right, it must be love!" He proclaimed joyfully, clutching Seraphina's hand to his warm chest. Seraphina laughed and rolled her eyes. "If I didn't stop the grapevine would send word to our mothers that I slighted you and your grandma would give me the 'Eye'. An earthquake isn't even an excuse for not stopping." Tobias chuckled and tossed a bright red apple to Seraphina, "We can't let you starve to death on your travels Miss Jasper." Seraphina was touched by the gesture, she placed a fleeting kiss upon Tobias's cheek, "I'm late Tobias, I really have to go." He nodded watching as she walked away. "You kissed me! You make my Papa's dreams come true!" Tobias called once she got to the corner. Seraphina shot him a withering glance.

As she walked into the hospital her mind switched from her outside life to the one she lived within these walls. She was busy stowing away her things when the first call came through "Trauma team to the E.R – Trauma team to the E.R." She ran down the hall to the nurse's station, "What have we got?" She asked the nurse working dispatch as she hurriedly covered her hair with a surgical cap. "MVA five victims so far. Two most critical en route now, others to follow." Sera looked around the crowded waiting room wondering where the rest of the team was. "ETA?" She asked. Haylee checked her notes "Should be…" The drone of sirens in the loading bay drowned out her reply.

Magnetic doors whooshed open letting leaves and debris fly in followed closely by the first EMT unit. "What did you bring me?" "African American male, 25 years old involved in high speed MVA. Car was wrapped around a light post. BP is low, major concussion, severe scalp lacerations and abdominal tenderness upper right quadrant. Patient was conscious and responsive to pain on scene. He passed out just before we got here, pulse is weak and thready." "Okay I got this! What's his name?" She asked shouting over the siren. "Emilio!" The paramedic called back as Sera wheeled the victim into Trauma 1.

The room got crazy, fast. Several Doctors and other nurses joined the fight to save Emilio. "His BP is dropping!" Seraphina shouted as she hung another bag of blood to transfuse.

"I've got an Asystole rhythm!"

"He's crashing!"

"I need room here people!"

Seraphina took a step back to let Dr Baxter begin defibrillating.

"Sera we could use your magic here." A nurse from trauma two called. Sera looked at Baxter who nodded "Go."

Sera tore off her gloves and gown donning fresh ones as she entered trauma room two. "Oh my lord." She whispered unconsciously crossing herself as she took in the sight of the patient on the gurney. He was no older than fourteen, a metal pipe was lodged in his shoulder, blood gushing from a wound on his upper thigh and pooling on the floor. The top of his skull had a hole the size of a quarter in it - brain matter clearly exposed. The youth was fighting, kicking, lashing out his eyes filled with terror. He was disoriented, literally fighting for his life, not realizing that these people were trying to help him.

"Why isn't he restrained?" Sera called from the doorway. The boy turned to her screaming in pain, his eyes wild. Sera kept her eyes on his as she walked towards him, "Hey buddy my name is Sera. I need you to calm down okay. You're hurt and we need to help you before your injuries get any worse." The boy let out an inhuman wail and jerked his head towards Sera. His eyes were wild pain blurring his vision. Through the fog in his brain he could barely make out a halo of black above a yellow body – all he could hear through his pain was the voice of an angel. "It hurts I know. Just lie back and we'll make it all better okay, just lie back now."

The boy shook his head and Sera lunged forward grabbing his face in her hands. "You've got a real bad bump on your head we gotta fix. You thrashin' around like that is making it worse." Sera scolded him. He lay back on the bed but as one of the nurses reached for a soft restraint he lashed out striking her with a bloody foot. Sera seized her opportunity and grabbed his other arm holding it for another nurse who quickly administered a sedative. With in seconds the boy was lying limp on the gurney, medical staff were quick to act.

"Okay let's get him stable and straight to the O.R." Dr Murphy called to the trauma team.

As they were wheeling the boy out ten minutes later Dr Murphy stopped Seraphina, "Think you can handle one more? The third critical is heading your way in fifteen seconds." She nodded once again changing her gown and gloves, taking a deep breath before going in again. "Get this cleared out, there's another one on the way!"

"Sera! We've got a 13 month old, front seat unrestrained went through the windshield. Pulse and respiration irregular and sporadic, she's been like this eight minutes. Broken tib-fib, rib fractures, pupils non-reactive." "Okay Kim. I want a portable X-ray; get me a pediatric tube kit…no smaller Ross." She instructed her fellow nurses while they waited for a doctor to arrive. Seraphina worked quickly to intubate and X-ray the baby girl. "Hang in there honey." She whispered to the girl as another nurse began bagging air into her tiny lungs. Sera continued compressions calling out to Kim "What's her name?" "Angel…Angel May."

"She's crashing!"

"Come on Angel!"

"Sera she's crashing!"

"I heard you! Get me the infant defibrillator!"

"Where is it?"

"Next door! And page Dr Fields! Go now Haylee!" Sera bellowed still frantically trying to get baby Angel to breathe. Kim ran to the next E.R and returned with the defibrillator. "Need a hand?" Sera nodded, stepped back and got Kim to resume compressions. "Charging…clear!" Sera called.

"Asystole." Kim confirmed.

"Again…clear" still no response. "Come on baby you're too little. Come on Angel fight." Sera yelled charging the paddles again.

Dr Fields entered the room, "X-rays?" "On the way." Haylee stated. "Okay let's push 5mg Lignocaine, probably a myocardial infarct."

"She's seizing!" Kim cried. The ECG went haywire before heading back to Asystole. Sera charged the paddles again.

"How long has she been down?" Dr Field asked studying the X-rays.

"8 minutes on scene." Kim called.

"3 minutes here." Haylee informed her.

"We can still get her back." Sera grunted, "Clear!"

Angel's body jumped with the shock but no difference was recorded on the ECG machine.

"Sera stop." Dr Field instructed quietly.

"Give her a chance! Come on Angel."

"Stop now Sera!" Dr Field shouted thrusting the X-ray in Sera's direction. Sera faltered when she looked at it. In the X-ray, the spot where Angel's heart should have been was a large opaque shadow. Her tiny heart had literally been pulverized; it was beyond repair. "Sera let her go, I'm calling it." Dr Field told her gently. Sera fought for a moment longer, still performing compressions on Angel's tiny baby chest. "Come on." She whispered, "Angel, hang on." "Sera!" Dr Fields barked her name pulling her away from the dead infant. Sera threw the paddles aside in disgust, storming from the room tearing off yet another set of scrub gowns and gloves. "Time of death 17:39…"

Kim trailed behind her to the waiting room where several members of the NYPD and FDNY were waiting for news. Davis saw Kim coming and raised his eyebrow. Kim shook her head sadly. "The baby girl?" Faith asked. Kim nodded, "She was too far gone. We lost her." Everyone stood silently trying to digest the information. Call outs involving kids in MVA's were always bad but tonight, to see this tiny child thrown through the wind screen and not being able to do anything about it was devastating. It would be a long time before the image of this night faded and became just one more memory of a tragic callout. "What about the driver?" Kim asked.

"The bastard's gonna make it." Bosco spat angrily. _Five minutes with that guy, that's all I want, just five lousy minutes. I'd show him he picked the wrong precinct to fuck around in_. Bosco thought to himself angrily – he was burning up on the inside, barely keeping a lid on the rage that had been steadily building from the moment he arrived on scene with Yokas.

"Black eyes, busted ribs and a moderate concussion. He's going to be fit to stand trial." Carlos elaborated.

"I don't get how somebody could do that. You want to take your own life, fine do it so you're the only victim." Faith shook her head in disbelief.

Carlos stilled in revulsion "This was a suicide attempt? Man that's sick."

"You wanna know the irony. Now, when he gets to the pokey they'll have him on suicide watch. He's gonna have to work damn hard to top himself now." Sully pointed out.

Everyone turned as the unmistakable sounds of an argument erupted from the hall; Dr Fields and Seraphina were having a 'heated discussion' around the corner. "What's up with them?" Bosco asked jerking his thumb in their direction. "They were both working on Angel, the baby girl. Seraphina didn't want to let her go." Kim told them sadly. They all watched Sera gesturing wildly, pointing an accusing finger at Dr Fields' chest. The doctor was having none of it, she pushed Sera's hand aside and snapped something inaudible, Sera was stunned mute as Dr Field stalked. Seraphina growled a profanity, slamming her hand against the wall before barging into the staff lounge.

"Yo Sully, we should get out of here, get these reports done up." Davis prompted. Sully shook his head, "Give me a sec would ya." Sully ambled his way over to the staff lounge and leant against the doorframe. "Hey Pumpkin, you alright?" He asked quietly watching Sera drag a brush through her thick hair, pulling it roughly into a ponytail. "Seriously we've talked about the 'Pumpkin' thing." Sully frowned, gruffly calling her name. "Serahpina." "I'm fine Uncle Sully." Sera said not turning around. "You sure?" He asked sternly. Seraphina threw her brush in the locker, closing it with unnecessary force. "I'm fine Sully, I promise." She turned to him and gave him a halfhearted smile. "You know where to find me." He told her nodding, hiking up his gun belt and leaving the room.

Sera watched Sully leaving, watched him walk back out through the still crowed ER. She could see by the way he walked, a little heavier than usual, more effort required to take that next step, that tonight's events were weighing heavily on his mind – on his soul. Sera lift her hand in a half hearted wave as Sully looked back before exiting the building. He was doing just as her father Henry had asked, he was looking out for her.


	2. Excitable

**Disclaimer - **I don't own anything Third Watch - everything else is my own...

At 3 am Sera's body was beginning to feel the tell tale signs that she had dealt with more than her fair share of traumas for one night. The muscles in her neck bunching tightly to form a huge knot at the base of her skull, she slipped into the nurse's lounge hoping for a moments respite to rest her weary body. Her mind however would not still; it was running in a hundred different directions all at once. The victims from the earlier MVA were still playing on her mind…losing the baby girl was still weighing heavily on her mind. Intellectually she knew there was nothing more that she or anyone could have done for Angel. That didn't stop her from feeling rotten that such a tiny life was cut short before it had even really begun.

All she wanted to do now was go home, wash away the grime accumulated over a crappy day, down a large glass of wine before crawling into her warm bed – even though she'd be crawling into it alone. She pulled out her cell checking for messages, realizing that her mother had not yet called. She frowned in concern – the shop was always closed by 1am at the very latest, maybe Rosa had just forgotten to call…_That would be just like Mama…_ Seraphina thought to herself, staring the cell and rubbing her hand over her weary face.

She was dialing her mother's number when Haylee stuck her head around the door.

"I'll be out in a minute Hailz – have we got a trauma on the way?" Seraphina asked listening as her mother's voicemail message cut in.

"Sera, it's your Mom."

"Did she call? Honestly I thought that parents were supposed to be the ones fretting when their child doesn't call…I mean isn't that the unwritten rule?" She asked snapping the phone closed with out leaving a message.

"No, um she's here."

"Here? As a patient?!" Sera flew out of the room in time to see Dr Marlow enter exam room 1. "Now Mrs. Jasper, what have you done to yourself?" He asked gently, his voice warm and trustworthy. "Mama!" Sera quickly took in her mother's disheveled appearance, the graze on her left cheek, blood dried on her cream blouse. Sera gentle grasped her mother's cheek, tilting it into the light so that she could get a better look at the wound. Rosa brushed her daughter away, annoyed. "Don't fuss Seraphina – we're okay, we just had a little accident."

"We? What kind of an accident?" Sera demanded, hands on hips, looking stern.

"We are all okay – that nice young officer sorted it out for us."

"Officer?" Sera's mind boggled. "Like a Police Officer?" She asked, spinning around and seeing a uniformed officer enter the room, not immediately recognizing who it was. "Ma, what the hell is goin' on?"

Bosco took in the scene between mother and daughter, astonishment playing across his face momentarily. It didn't take him long to decide to play this one carefully. "Mrs. Jasper, would it be alright if I took your statement now?" He asked politely pulling out his notebook. Sera glanced at him as though he was an alien - she'd had a little to do with him since she started at Mercy and never once had she heard him be polite; she assumed he didn't have any manners. "Please young man, I've told you call me Rosa." Sera paced in the background; looking between Boscorelli and her mother as he recapped the details he had so far.

"Okay Rosa. So you were taking inventory with your sister Camilla, after you had closed the store."

"Si, we own the store together."

"Bruno Lisi was also present?" Bosco asked.

"Si – my sister's husband."

"Mrs. Lisi told me that you lost track of time - you were talking and suddenly there was a man inside?"

"I don't know how he got in." Rosa said frowning.

"Is it possible that a door was unlocked?" Bosco watched carefully as she answered looking for any sign that she was stretching the truth of covering up something.

"We always locked the doors when we count our takings. Bruno fixed one of the locks just this week." Rosa said, her accent getting heavier the wearier she became.

"You told me you called a handy man." Sera accused.

"Bruno is a man, no? He is handy no? Same thing. The door, it was a fixed." Rosa flippantly shrugged away her daughters concern. Bosco watched as Sera gently bit her bottom lip, seeing that she was trying to keep in control. "Alright so you saw the man, what happened next?"

"Milla screamed. Did she tell you that, I bet she did not?" Rosa said playfully. Seraphina was watching her mother in amazement – she seemed to be enjoying the whole process meanwhile Sera was barely keeping a lid on her frustration. Bosco shook his head, making a production of writing down "Milla screamed. What then?"

"After the screaming, he say he wants money. I tell him, we've been to bank, no money inside. I tell him to shoo."

"To shoo?" Bosco bit the inside of his cheek, trying and failing to mask his amusement, he looked across at Seraphina meeting her eyes, smiling slightly but she didn't seem to be in a joking mood. "Yes but then he pulled out a knife." Rosa declared dramatically

Sera crossed herself muttering in Italian, "Una lama! Diami la resistenza." _(A knife. Give me strength!) _Bosco didn't need a translator to decipher that Rosa's daughter was not impressed with the turn of events.

"That's when I threw at him the, the…um vase del fiore." Rosa said proudly, gesturing with her hands as she unconsciously slipped into her native Italian tongue.

"I'm sorry the what?" Bosco looked up from his notebook slightly bewildered.

Sera quietly translated, "The flower vase" for him.

"I got him pretty good too. He fell down like a sacco delle patate." Rosa grinned proudly.

"Sack of potatoes." Sera mumbled

"I got that one." Bosco nodded still endeavoring not to smirk.

"Don't frown so much mio caro, it's not pretty. Such a beautiful girl but always frowning. I tell her all the time frowns won't get her a husband!" Rosa chastised her young daughter wagging her finger. As though frown lines deterring potential suitors were a bigger concern for Seraphina than the fact that her mother had just been held up at knifepoint. "You wonder why I frown Mama. How is it that we are genetically related?" Sera murmured turning away from her mother to fuss with one of the monitors in the room.

Bosco watched the interplay between mother and daughter with interest, trying to keep from laughing he attempted to redirect the conversation to the matter at hand.

"How did you get that injury?" He pointed to his own cheek with his pen. Rosa had sustained what looked like a superficial graze to her left cheek – but honestly, what would Bosco know he wasn't actually a medical professional.

"I was calling Polizia, he tried to get up, pulling on the counter – a pastry case fell down, a menu flew up and hit me."

This time Bosco did grin, "Okay Mrs Jasper I think I've got everything I need for now. You'll need to come by the precinct house tomorrow and we can sort out the paperwork." Bosco was talking to Rosa but looking straight at Seraphina as if to say, makes sure she remembers. He gave them all a curt nod before leaving the room.

Seraphina ran her hands into her thick dark hair, shaking her head at her mother's antics. "Alrighty Rosa, I'll get that cheek cleaned up for you then Seraphina can take you home." Rosa nodded, leaning back with her eyes closed. The earlier excitement at the shop had left her exhilarated for a short while but now she was exhausted, only wanting to shower and sleep.

Bosco walked towards the nurse's station, Seraphina a few steps behind him. "Officer Boscorelli…"

"It's Bosco." He told her his voice mockingly stern.

"Bosco, thanks for taking care of my Mama. She's a little…" Sera shrugged, unable to think of an appropriate word. "Excitable?" he offered, grinning broadly. "It was pretty much under control when I got there. I gotta tell you, your Mom's got balls."

Sera chuckled humorlessly, "She's got something alright." Bosco watched as a look of concern passed across her face. "Listen, there really isn't anything to worry about. We caught the guy the damage was minimal and apart from the scrape on Rosa's cheek there were no other injuries." He paused for a moment noticing that his little spiel wasn't having the desired effect, Sera still looked worried, tense. "When your Mom comes by the house tomorrow to give her statement, I'll give her a lecture about security."

"You can try…she probably thinks this will make a thrilling anecdote to tell the ladies at bridge." Seraphina sighed resignedly.

Bosco shrugged as if to say _What can you do? _"Earlier with the little girl…I mean that had to suck?" he asked her clumsily. Sera closed her eyes and sighed trying to erase the image of the little girl from her mind. "It's never easy Bosco." She told him shortly, walking in the nurses' station and grabbing a patient's chart. Her body language, her whole demeanor told Bosco that the topic was not up for discussion. Bosco stood there a moment longer watching people come and go as Sera actively ignored him waiting for him to get the point. He got it already he was just being stubborn, something he excelled at. He was halfway to the emergency bay doors before he called out "See you around." Sera hadn't even realized he'd moved away. She caught his eye and Bosco nodded, walking outside through the ambulance bay to his waiting RMP. Sera ran out into the cool night, the wind biting at her through her thin scrubs as she followed him out. "Bosco!" Sera called before she could stop herself. "Remind me sometime that I owe you a beer." Bosco raised an eyebrow in surprise before grinning. "I'll remember to collect on that. G'night." Sera raised her hand to wave before turning back to the ER to take her 'excitable' mother home.


	3. History

"Glad to see you could join us Sullivan

"Glad to see you could join us Sullivan." Sgt Christopher quipped snidely as Sully puffed into the report room. He was a few minutes late, he'd had a hell of a morning and now he had to deal with Christopher's smug face. He grunted as he lowered his heavy frame into the chair next to his young partner. "Where did you get to Sul?" Ty asked him quietly not listening to the cocky sergeant drone on. "I had something to take care of." Sully told him brusquely. Ty nodded looking across at his partner. They had worked together long enough that by now they knew each others moods and today was definitely a don't-ask-too-many-questions-or-I'll-rip-you-a-new-one day for Sullivan. Ty tried to think if something yesterday had set him off but came up empty, which could only mean it was something from Sully's personal life. Ty grinned to himself wondering if Sully had a new lady friend – today wasn't the day to ask but he stored it away for next time.

"55-Charlie you have sector 8 today." "No, we're in sector 9, I cleared this with Swersky." Sully informed the arrogant sergeant not too politely. "Well if that were true it would be on my run sheet but it's not so as I was saying 55-David you are in sector 9." "We'll swap with 55-Charlie." Faith spoke up, Bosco shrugged at her as if to say 'What are you doing?' He had a long history with Sgt Christopher and avoided having anything to do with him wherever possible. "Unfortunately this isn't a democracy Yokas, what I say goes." Christopher stated smugly. "Actually what I say goes, 55-David your swapping sectors with 55-Charlie today. Go get some crooks, be safe out there." Swersky poked his head into the room long enough to override Christopher and break up their handover. "Get the radios while I check the car out." Sully ordered Ty not waiting for a reply. "Looks like Sully has PMS today Davis – you might want to offer him a little evening primrose." Bosco joked down at the radio cage. "Yeah I'm looking to survive the shift Bosco not get killed before it even begins." Ty quips back.

In the RMP Sully has insisted that he drives for the shift, they are just cruising around not much is going on even once the sun goes down they only respond to a few minor calls, an attempted B&E, a report of a stolen car and a store owner who busted two kids running off without paying for some beer. "This is like the eighth time we've been by here Sully, you looking for something in particular?" Davis asked as they slowed down to cruise past a little Italian café come book store. Sully pulled off to the curb and killed the engine. "I need to run an errand." He told Davis gruffly getting out of the car and looking across the hood at the shop. He ran a hand through his too long hair, reminding himself to get a haircut one of these days. "So what I'm supposed to just wait in the car?" Ty calls out to Sully's retreating back.

Ty knows that something is up with Sully but until he decided to talk about it there wasn't much that Ty could do to help him out. Ten minutes later Sully still hadn't come back out of the café Ty got out of the RMP to stretch his legs and look around a little. He looked through the window and saw Sully talking to a short Italian woman who looked vaguely familiar. When she turned he face towards him Ty remembered seeing her in the station house a few weeks earlier, something about a break in at her café – Bosco and Faith had caught the call.

Rosa pointed at Ty through the window and Sully looked around annoyed. He'd made it quite clear to the kid to stay in the car; there had been no call out over the radio what the hell was he up to. "Is that who I think it is?" Rosa asked Sully quietly. Sully nodded, "I'm sorry, we shouldn't have come here tonight. I'll go, we can talk later Rosie." He walked away from her but when he reached the street outside she was still following him. "Rosie." He warned but she shook her head stubbornly "I'd like to meet that young man." She told him slipping her hand into the crook of his arm. Sully sighed and led her over to Davis.

Ty stood there watching a little bewildered as the pair came over towards him he wasn't quite sure what was going on. "Rosa this is Ty Davis Jnr, Davis this is an old friend of mine Rosa Jasper." Sully introduced them awkwardly. Ty reached out and shook Rosa's hand politely, "It's nice to meet you ma'am." Rosa looked over him carefully. "John talks about you often." Rosa tells him as she searches his face for something she can't seem to find. "Don't believe a word he says, it's all lies." Ty jokes lightly throwing her a bright grin. "I knew your father." Rosa tells him quietly and Ty's face fell he looked at Sully uncertainly. "If he ah, if he did anything that hurt you…" "Davis." Sully warned. "I'm sorry ma'am, as I hope Sully has told you, I'm not like my father." Rosa smiled at him weakly, "So perhaps it is not all lies." Ty hangs his head guiltily, everywhere he goes he is plagued by the fact that his father was a crooked cop…he often wondered if it would be quite so hard if they didn't share the same name.

"We should go." Sully told Rosa jerking his head at the car. "Take care young man." Rosa smiles at Ty in a motherly fashion. She tugs at Sully's collar straightening it; he leans down and presses a kiss to her round cheek. "I'm sorry Rosie." "Shh, John – it was so long ago. Thank you for this morning, I'm sorry Sera missed it – I'll let her know you came by." Sully nodded looking down at his old friend sadly, "Call me if you need anything at all, any time Rosie…" She silenced him with by patting his chest gently. "Go keep the people safe John." She stood on the curb watching until they pulled away down the street. She returned to the café with a small tear in her eye.

Ty and Sully rode around in silence for a few more minutes before Ty couldn't contain himself any longer. "What did my dad do to her?" "I don't want to talk about it Davis." Sully tried to end the conversation. "Well I want to he's my father I have a right to know." Ty argued. "You know what Davis not everything is about you and your rights. Did you ever stop to think of that?" Sully was getting angry, he didn't want to go over this, not tonight – he should never have stopped off to see Rosa he knew it would be a mistake but just like everything that concerned her he couldn't help himself. Even after all this time he still felt responsible. "Rosa's daughter is Sera Jasper, the nurse from Mercy isn't she?" Ty asked. "Yes. She's also my god-daughter." Sully confided. Ty looked at him skeptically "How come you never told me that before?" "I don't tell you everything Davis." "Obviously." Sully looked out of the windscreen.

"What made you so late today?" Ty asked, he knew that he was pushing his luck with this but something was bothering Sully and he wanted to know what it was. "I'm not getting into this with you tonight Davis, I already told you I had something to do its personal." "Yeah well when you bring it on shift and it rides around in the car with us like it is tonight it stops being just about you." Ty told him. "I'm here to back you up tonight Sully, I wanna know that your head is in the right space to be out here on the streets carrying a gun. If its not then I worry, simple as that."

Sully stopped the car abruptly, turning to glare at Davis. "You wanna know where I was Davis, you wanna know why I was late. I was at the cemetery this morning with Rosie, placing flowers on her dead husband's grave, on my friend's grave." He told Ty before calling in to dispatch that they were on a meal break. They went into a burger joint and ordered sitting down with their meals Sully continued his story, not waiting for Ty to ask. "Today is the anniversary of Rosie's husband's death. Officer Henry Sean Jasper. He worked patrol with me and your dad…we went to the academy together, got puppy walked at the same time." Sully told him remembering back to when they were two green, fresh faced men straight out of the academy ready to fight the good fight, ready to save the world one perp at a time. "What happened to him?" Davis asked breaking into Sully's reverie. "He was killed in the line of duty." Ty looked at Sully waiting for details. "It was the day Sera graduated from high school – she'd made the honor role and was so nervous about the speak she had to make as valedictorian. I was there on god-father duties with her brother Oliver and Rosie…I had the camcorder there just incase Henry couldn't make it – he was working undercover on a big operation. He asked me to make sure that if he missed it I had a copy so he could watch it later on."

Sully remembered back to that day, Seraphina up on the podium giving her speak about heading out into the future, about it being time for her senior class to decide what they were going to do with the rest of their lives. "I know that as I sadly leave this school behind, as my friends and I part company and head off in different directions that each of us will leave a unique set of footprints on this earth. I hope that my path will take me on a long a prosperous journey filled with love, friendship, family and success…I head to Columbia in the fall to begin my nursing degree and I can tell you all I am excited. I can't wait to face the new challenges ahead of me, although I am scared, I am nervous – I fear that I may falter of fail but I know in my heart that so long as I have my family and my friends by my side I can achieve anything…So I ask you my fellow seniors of the class of 1998, when you walk for the last time from these halls, where will your path take you? What footprints will you leave behind for those that come next?"

After she had finished her speech and the ceremony was over he'd kept filming catching her goofing around with friends and her brother and mother. Just as she'd asked here her father was Rosie's cell rang, she paled as she took the call holding the phone out to Sully. "This is Officer John Sullivan, what's going on?" He'd demanded down the phone, he too paled when the voice repeated the message to him. "Sully, its Sgt Swersky – It's Henry, he's been shot. You need to come quickly, bring Rosa and the kids." "What the hell happened?" Sully insisted. "You need to hurry Sullivan; I'll explain when you get here." Sully looked across at his young partner, his mind back in the present no longer seeing the past vividly. "When we got to the hospital it was a sea of blue uniforms and suited detectives, it looked like half of the department had turned up."

"How did it happen?" Sully sighed, fiddling with the burger in front of him but not actually eating it. "He was ambushed. He had arranged to meet a dealer to score some dope, was trying to get to the bigger fish, to the guys who distributed to his dealer. They had caught wind that he was working undercover and they ah they gunned him down while he waited for his mark to show…he never even saw it coming.HHH" Sully looked away obviously upset at the memories resurfacing. "We made it to the hospital just in time, Sera ran over to him as they were wheeling him into surgery – she was the apple of her daddy's eye, he always treated her like a princess."

Ty nodded slowly, he knew what it was like to loose a father, he'd been much younger that Seraphina when his father Tyrone had been killed – but it was much the same really, although Sera's dad was probably a good cop, not crooked with two families, like Ty Davis Snr had been. "Did they get the guys who did it?" Ty wanted to know. Sully looked at him darkly, "It took us a while but we got there in the end. When we caught him…you have no idea how hard it was to not just beat the living shit out of him right then and there." "You brought him in?" Ty asked his eyebrow raised. "It was my collar, he killed my friend…I just wanted to kill him."

Sully wasn't proud of that moment in his life, he might have been able to restrain himself from killing the man but he and his partner had roughed him up pretty good – they told their Lieutenant that he had been resisting arrest, another lie to add to the pile he had accumulated throughout his career. "Did he get sent down for it?" "He got 25 years with the option for parole after 15 – it was a joke. They should have locked him up and thrown away the key. He killed a cop in broad daylight and didn't give a damn about it." Sully spat.

Ty chewed a fry slowly while he carefully thought about his next question, "What did my dad do to Rosa? I mean he'd been long dead when that happened to Henry." Sully looked across at Davis. "You know what your dad was like, thought he was a ladies man – he had two families and ran after just about anything in a skirt." It sounded harsh but it was true and nothing that Davis hadn't heard before. "Your father got Henry into trouble over some shady dealings with his informant. Your dad was pocketing drug money, offered to cut Henry in…when Henry declined he received a warning to make sure he kept his mouth shut." Ty could only imagine what that warning was.

"What did my father do to him?" "He had a few boys beat him up then ratted to Henry's Sgt that he believed he was taking a cut from his informant's profits. Henry was suspended for 2 weeks without pay while it was investigated." "He was cleared though right? Sera's dad wasn't dirty?" Ty asked anxious to know the extent of his father's malice. "He was the straightest cop I ever worked with. The only thing Henry did wrong was to not turn in your father when he had the chance." That was hard for Ty to hear but he knew it was true – his father had been a dirty cop, he'd take his cut wherever he could get it and didn't care who got hurt in the process. A burst of static interrupted Ty's melancholy bringing him back to the present. "Central to 55-Charlie we have disturbance call at 1259 on King." "55-Charlie to central, 10-4 show us responding." He hurriedly downed the rest of his shake and followed sully quickly out to the RMP.

At the end of shift Sully was sitting on the bench in the locker room looking at the photo tacked up in the back of his locker – it was a picture of himself, Henry, Lieutenant Swersky back when he'd been a patrol cop and Tyrone Davis Snr. They were all standing around in uniform at the front of the precinct house, all laughing and carrying on. If Sully remembered rightly Rosie had taken the photo. He smiled ruefully as he let his thoughts wander back over his time with Henry. At the academy he'd been head of his class, he was intelligent, had a strong moral compass that bent slightly but never once broke…he was a good husband and true friend and a doting father. He loved his two children with unwavering devotion, he'd be so proud of how they turned out. Oliver was living in Chicago with his wife and three young kids, he was a teacher at a local high school – he taught music and history if Sully remembered correctly. It had been a couple of years since he'd last seen him, it must have been a thanksgiving or Christmas dinner perhaps.

Then there was Seraphina who just kept going from strength to strength. She had breezed through her nursing degree and was working hard to make a difference in people's lives. She was a brilliant nurse, compassionate, determined, firm, friendly…but as Rosa kept insisting she needed to settle down and find a decent man. Rosa worried constantly that Seraphina would never find the happiness that she herself had found with Henry. Sully didn't see her slowness to settle down as a bad thing, he'd met quite a few of the guys she'd dated and there had only been one or two that he'd approved of and they hadn't lasted too long. No she was better to take her time, meet someone that deserved to be with her…not that Sully could imagine such a man existed. He was very protective of Seraphina, he had promised Henry that he would look after him and it was one oath he was determined not to break. He owed his friend that much at the very least.

Seraphina climbed the stairs to the locker room, today had been long and emotional and as much as she was ready for a long scolding shower, a glass of good wine and to sack out in bed she knew there was something she needed to do first. She slowly trudged her weary body up the stairs, finally arriving in the locker room. She spotted Sully sitting on the bench, looking lost in his thoughts.

"Hey Sully." She called out to him softly. He didn't move a muscle, didn't even seem as though he heard her. "Earth to Sullivan." She tried again, he looked at her blinking a few times before registering she was there. "How are you doing kid?" She shrugged at him, sitting her slim frame on the bench next to him. "What are you doing here?" He asked her gruffly, still haunted by his conversation with Davis earlier in the evening. "What I can't come visit my favorite god-father?" she teased him lightly. "I'm fine, I don't need any help." He told her frowning severely. "Yeah well so you say, I'm just keeping up my end of the bargain. I made a promise and I intend to keep it." "Sera…" "No, Sully I know you don't like to talk about it but I promised Dad that I'd keep an eye on you."

Sully looked away from her stubbornly, he didn't deserve this from her, it was his job to look out for her and her mother – he hated it when the situation was flipped the other way. Sera placed her small hand on his leg and gave it a gentle but firm pat. "You know where to find me if you need anything Uncle Sully." She told him rising slowly off the seat and looking down at him. When he didn't respond she dropped a kiss to the crown of his head and walked away back towards the stairs. Sully looked up watching her leave. "Seraphina." She stopped and turned back to face him. "You father would be so proud of you." He told her thickly. She nodded trying to force down the sudden lump I her throat. "He'd be proud of you Sully. Good night." She practically ran from the room before her tears could overwhelm her. "Goodnight Pumpkin." Sully mumbled under his breath as he watched her leave.


	4. Fitting

**Disclaimer: I don't anything Third Watch - every one else is of my own creation. _Thanks for sticking with me (especially SullyFan!) I know it's a long time between posts but these guys don't write themselves in a linear fashion - stay tuned there are a lot of twists & turns in store. Patience is a virtue & as always reviews make me write faster xox_**_ Reluctant Flame_

Haylee was inside the posh, designer bridal boutique pacing the length of the store and glancing at her watch every 10 seconds – it was 9:45 Sera was already 20 minutes late and hadn't bothered to call or answer her cell phone. Haylee was beginning to get pissed off. "You're late!" Haylee shrieked as Seraphina finally ran into the bridal shop. Haylee looked over her best friend disappointed – Sera's hair was haphazardly scraped back from her face, she was in jeans torn, faded jeans and a crumpled baby t-shirt. Sera's ruined cherry red pedicure was visible due to her strappy jesus-style sandals - in short she looked like she just rolled out of bed. Haylee had envisioned her looking a little more polished to attend this dress fitting. "I'm sorry honey, I just had the shift from hell…If I get one more MVA this month it will be the end of me." Sera panted trying to catch her breath as she dumped her satchel bag on the courtesy seat and threw a weary glance at the racks in front of her. "I need to get back to Pediatrics." She moaned. "Yeah all the runny noses, broken bones, tonsillectomies and kids with cancer you handle – no thank you! I'd rather spend the rest of my days down in the ER pit than dealing with parents. You are a brave woman." Sera shrugged flicking through the dresses on the rack in front of her, she didn't argue with Haylee there wasn't any point.

There was a lot more to her job on the children's ward than what Haylee thought – Sera's specialty was Pediatric Oncology (kids with cancer). It was a tough job she not only dealt with sick children but with their emotionally distraught parents and families. Things could get heated on the ward, especially when someone was newly diagnosed and you had to explain to families what was wrong with their child…every one always wanted to know why their son or daughter had to get sick. It was just the luck of the draw really; nobody had any control over who got cancer and who didn't. For Sera though, the job was truly rewarding – she didn't always get to see them go home, quite often her patients died from their cancer but it was a privilege to be there to help them in their last days. Kids were generally pretty resilient, they faced the prospect of dying with very little fear, they had such courage and tenacity. Often it made Sera think about her own life, her own ridiculous insecurities and fears – when she saw what these kids faced on a day to day basis it made her realize how extremely lucky she was.

"You're not listening to a word I've said are you? What on earth happened today?" Haylee whined glaring at Sera her hands on hips waiting impatiently for an answer. "Trust me you don't want to hear about my day, lets just find a dress okay." Sera suggested weakly. The look on Haylee's face said it all – "I'm not looking at one more dress until you tell me what the hell happened today and why you're in such a feral mood." Haylee demanded as she sat down on the plush brown leather couch and scowled at her best friend. Sera groaned inwardly, doing a mental eyeball roll before taking a deep breath and launching into a recount of the shift from hell…

**4:10 pm Thursday**

"Hey Boscorelli if all you want to do is brawl then get the hell out of my ER!" Seraphina screamed across the crowded ER. Boscorelli stopped scuffling with his prisoner shoving him harshly down into a waiting room chair. Sera noticed the guy looked pretty busted up, his face was half smeared with blood and he was gingerly cradling his ribs. If she'd had a moment to even think she might have wondered if Bosco had found his suspect in this state or if Bosco was the reason for the guy's current condition. Sera was trying to negotiate her way through the overrun ER, it seemed like half of Manhattan had decided to get sick or injured and come for treatment at Angel of Mercy. Sera was short staffed, the ER chief had just appointed a new resident who insisted upon going against the grain at every turn. Throw into the mix the 6 new interns who were so fresh they still resembled newborns and the beginning of the flu season – it was no wonder Seraphina felt the way she did.

Nothing had gone right for her today, every decision she'd made was a crappy one. She showed up for work over an hour early, hoping to catch up on some paperwork she'd neglected the day before – Dr MacArthur (the new resident) had quickly put the kibosh on that. Instead he'd lumped her with a patient load that would exhaust the extreme patience of Mother Theresa and then disappeared into surgery for the remainder of the day. Not only that but he refused to attend to emergency consults and Sera missed her chance at viewing 2 incredible surgeries. Needless to say her nerves were shot, her temper frayed and her sanity barely holding on by a thread when Boscorelli and his suspect showed up at the ER.

"Yo Jasper, we gonna get this numbskull seen too anytime this century?" Bosco called out to her impatiently. Seraphina marched her way towards him. "Are you blind Boscorelli? Do you not see all of these other sick people in here waiting to see a Doctor? It's very simple math Boscorelli, I am only 1 person, I am three nurses down for the day, I've got an arrogant surgical resident riding my ass, 6 practically useless interns who look at me with disgust because I'm **'only a nurse'** and a waiting room of more than thirty people. You want your perp attended to faster, take him to a different hospital." By the end of her rant Sera was wild eyed and breathless, she wasted no time waiting for a response from Bosco. She turned on her heel and strode off leaving Boscorelli standing there open mouthed and dumbstruck with no witting retort, no scathing comeback.

He let out a sigh and rested back against the waiting room wall, his arms tightly folded across his chest. "Haha, that little firecracker sure told you officer." Without looking at his prisoner Bosco smacked the idiot up the side of the head. "Sit there, shut up and don't bleed on my shoes or the next medical personnel you see will be the undertaker." Bosco threatened. He watched as a timid young Dr called out his suspects name and looked around helplessly. Bosco groaned and shoved the guy over to the Doctor. Bosco watched as the young man's face paled as he got a closer look at his suspects face – one eyebrow had been split, blood had dried over his face, he'd also received a nasty gash to the cheek which had debris embedded in it. "Which exam cubicle Doc? We ain't got all day." Bosco bitched as the Doctor just stood there looking around for someone more senior, somebody better equipped to handle a prisoner. Bosco saw Sera hovering at the entrance to a cubicle rolling her eyes at the intern's hesitation.

Sera watched as the intern performed a clumsy physical assessment, asking barely any questions and documenting his findings on the wrong chart. Sera grit her teeth and set her jaw, if she had to put up with one more 'baby-doctor' she would have to plead guilty by reason of mental disease or defect after she had torn them limb from limb. Bosco watched her with a barely concealed grin; Sera was squirming badly, itching to smack the patient chart around the Doctors head a few hundred times. He saw her foot began to tap lightly on the floor once the doc had finished his initial assessment and then stood back for a full three minutes before saying anything or ordering any tests/treatment. "Okay Mr Dordan, lets get you admitted. I'll need to insert an IV for antibiotics, well get FBC, U&E, ECG, Chest X-ray, MRI and book you in for a consult with a surgeon regarding your facial wounds."

Sera's jaw dropped, the guy needed barely any of that – he certainly didn't need to be admitted and as for a surgical consult… "Here's what I'm actually going to do. I'm going to organize chest X-ray and bloods, I may even decide he warrants an ECG but I find it highly unlikely. Then I'm going to get you a sterile dressing tray, you can irrigate the wound, stitch his eyebrow, apply some topical antiseptic cream and prescribe him some oral antibiotics if you really feel it's necessary. Then you can discharge this patient and move on to the next person out of the many sick injured and dying currently clogging up my ER." Sera told him as she took several vials of blood, labeling them and setting them aside for pathology and handing the lab forms across to the inter to sign for the chest X-ray he'd ordered.

"Your ER?" he asked incredulously. "Yes my ER. Seeing as your resident has decided to spend the day up to his elbows in internal organs giving me the painful responsibility of babysitting you and your moron friends and trying to prevent you from killing anyone today and the fact that I'm the most senior person currently manning the ER, you bet your ass it's my ER." She walked out and returned a few seconds later with a plastic packed dressing tray. "You have done this before right? Think you can manage to do it without killing the guy?" She bitched glaring at the doctor, daring him silently to challenge her. "Where do you get off, you're **just** a nurse!" The intern snapped at her pissed off by her attitude, not realizing that she was actually trying to help him out.

Sera stopped took a slow controlled breath as she counted to five in her mind. "I'm going to ignore that you little weasel only because I bring to this situation something you don't, experience. Now either you can do your job and treat this patient so he can leave us or you can run off to your resident and whine about how the big bad nurse is being a bitch and won't play nice. If you do that you're just going to look like a dickhead who can't handle the pressure of the ER and they'll reassign you to the geriatric ward. Either way I'm still going to be here getting in your face and ordering you about because you obviously aren't capable of making a decision with out holding a powwow with the other interns." Sera waited for the inevitable argument, which for the first time that day didn't occur. "Okay so there may just be hope that you actually have a brain." She commented as she exited the exam room, once the intern had started irrigating the wound.

**7:48pm Thursday**

Sera was running from bay to bay, doing what she could to try to get these people out of her ER, to limit the number of people who were exposed to the strain of flu going around. Mostly as she ran from patient to patient she was trying to hurry them out not because she'd had enough of dealing with the sick and just wanted to go home and sleep for a full day but because she'd had the feeling all day that something big was going to happen this afternoon. And of course it was bound to happen and it was guaranteed to be huge because not only was she short staffed, she was also short tempered and short on caffeine – a lethal combination. "Don't they teach you how to do this in med school?" Sera wondered under her breath as she inserted yet another IV cannula for one of the interns.

Sera was fussing over an older gentleman who had been brought in complaining of severe chest pain, shortness of breath and a scalp laceration he got when he'd passed out from the pain. He'd just been told that he'd had a serious heart attack and was having trouble coming to terms with the fact that the heart attack hadn't killed him. "So I'm not dead?" he asked. Sera smiled confused, "You thought you had died?" She asked him. "Yeah I mean, I was sure I had. This has to be heaven right? What makes you think that I'm not dead?" "The fact that you're sitting up in bed talking to me with you heart beating and your lungs breathing was a pretty good indication." She looked at him perplexed. "You thought the hospital ER was heaven?" "It isn't?" Mr Johnston asked her his face screwed up, bewildered. "God I hope not buddy." Sera smiled at him broadly giving his hand a reassuring squeeze before moving on to the next patient.

**10:28pm Thursday**

The next few hours flew by in a blur of sick, injured and hypochondriac patients rotating in and out of the ER. Sera risked a glance at the clock breathing a very real sigh of relief to see that it was only 30 minutes until her shift ended and she could go home and collapse in an exhausted heap. She allowed herself a small grin before turning back to her paper – there was no point counting down the minutes but the knowing today would soon be over gave her a well deserved thrill. "Jasper, why the hell is the fracture hip in cubicle 5 still here? I told you to free that bed hours ago!" Sera took a slow deep breath and tried to block out Dr McInery's rumbling complaint. "That fractured hip belongs to a woman named Mrs Hardcastle. Mrs Hardcastle is still here because there aren't any beds free up in ortho yet."

Dr McInery slammed a clipboard on top of the file Sera was documenting in. "Guess again. The updated bed report came out an hour ago. Get her off my god damned service now! Incase you haven't noticed we need the bed!" Gritting her teeth Sera dialed the number for the Orthopedics ward and began negotiating a transfer for her patient. "No Dr McInery wants her out of here now. Look you've got three empty beds, I have people stacked in corridors…she's the only one…thanks Jesse you're a gem." _Okay one bed free 16 people who want it…what's next. _Sera thought to herself. her unasked question was answered in the form of the cheif ER nurse Margaret approaching Seraphina determinedly. "I've got another three nurses out with this damned flu, Sera I need you to stay back." Sera closed her eyes, counted to ten nodding slowly. She realized she wasn't actually being asked to stay rather she was instructed. God this day had to end eventually right?

**1:56am Friday**

It had finally quieted long enough for Sera to make a cup of coffee and settle into a stool behind the expansive nursing station to catch up with her paper work. She sighed frustrated as a shadow fell across the page, she looked up annoyed before realizing the shadow belonged to a familiar ER visitor. "Officer Boscorelli, you've come back to hassle me some more?" She quipped lightly. Bosco shrugged, giving her a slight grin. "I thought about it but you one day I might actually need you to patch me up, figured it wasn't too smart to piss you off completely." "You are actually smarter than you look aren't you Boscorelli." Sera laughed lightly.

"What are you still doing here?" Bosco asked her conversationally, leaning against the desk and stuffing his gloves into his pocket. "Half the nursing staff are out with the flu so I'm pulling my third…no fourth double for the week. What about you, third watch finished hours ago." Sera inquired pushing back an errant curl. "Half our guys got the flu too – the overtime is gonna come in handy this month." Bosco replied nonchalantly as a burst of static screeched from his radio. "55-Central to 55-David 10-10 suspected shots fired in the vicinity of Edgerton sporting goods on West 138th." "55-David 10-4." Bosco shook his head wearily, "My public awaits. Have a good night Sera." He told her quickly stuffing his gloves back on and moving briskly towards the exit. "Be careful out there Bosco!" Sera called after him that niggling feeling of something huge and disastrous still looming just in the distance, slightly out of her reach.


	5. Overtime

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything that originally belonged to this wonderful show, much cleverer people have claim to that...however Seraphina, Haylee and others come from my own little imagination...**

**A/N - It's been a long time coming but here is the next chapter...I haven't forgotten about this story I promise. It's just my muse is being sadistic at the moment she only comes out to play when I have essays due or semseter exams to study for - Cheeky wench. Anyway enjoy please read and review...you know how I love it xOx Flame**

**

* * *

**

**2.04am Friday**

Bosco slid behind the wheel of the patrol car easing it out of the hospital parking lot flicking on the lights and sirens as he sped towards the address of the shots fired. 7am was not going to come fast enough tonight…although at least now he had something to keep him occupied. Earlier he was driving around aimlessly just searching for somebody breaking the law somewhere. Usually once flu season hit and the number of officers visible on the streets dropped crime rates soared – well apparently this year either all the dumb ass criminals had also caught the flu or were hiding inside not wanting to catch it.

Bosco pulled up at the street front of Edgerton Sporting goods. He looked around the street, no other patrol cars were visible – protocol was for him to wait for back up before entering the premises. He knew that, Faith reminded him every single time they pulled up to a shots fired job. He didn't even have Faith with him now, she was at home tucked up in bed – she'd left shift right on 11, refusing to stay back for paperwork or to pull a double. Charlie had caught the flu and Fred was bitching and moaning about having to take care of the kid – told Faith that was her job. _No you numb skull Faith's job is to be out here watching my ass – you're the kids father would it kill you to watch him for a few hours? _Bosco thought to himself, hesitating not wanting to enter to building until he at least knew that back up was imminent.

"55-David to central. What's the ETA on my back up?" He waited impatiently for an answer.

"55-Central to 55-David nearest unit is 7 minutes away barring further incident."

Bosco glared at his radio in disbelief – "What was my damned hurry then!" He asked it pevishly. He took a deep breath perching himself on the hood of the squad looking like a dick hanging about waiting for one of his friends in blue to be allowed to come out and play. Bosco was still there 5 minutes later, ready to ream the first unit that bothered to respond – if they weren't so short handed he would go in on his own. God only knew how long it would take someone to respond to officer in distress call.

**2:17am Friday**

A light switching on inside the store caught Bosco's attention – he ducked down behind the opposite side of the squad watching, waiting for any further movement inside. His patience was rewarded, two perps walked along the front display taking the mannequin apart and dueling with it's arms. Bosco rolled his eyes; they were only kids…maybe he could handle them on his own. He waited until he could see the two head further down the store before approaching the front door it was still locked tight, they must have found another entrance.

"55-David to Central. I have visual of 2 teenaged suspects in jeans and hoodies, front door is secure, I'm checking the perimeter for alternate entry points." He keyed his mike, hugging the walls his flashlight sweeping the ground, his other hand resting at the handle of his service weapon.

"Central to 55-David, you are to hold your position until back up arrives." The terse woman on dispatch informed him.

"I don't got till Christmas lady! These kids are here now – free up a unit and send them over." Bosco shot back without thinking twice.

He moved around the building, pausing as he reached the fire escape the ladder was pulled down far enough for him to grasp it. Using his well honed muscles Bosco pulled himself up the rungs of the ladder until his could get his footing; silently praising himself for the hours he'd spent in the gym working on his upper body strength. He climbed through to the landing noticing that the door on this level had been jimmied open. He looked around at his feet, discarded cigarette butts were littered all about the place the door didn't have much in the way of a lock the owners probably thought it was too awkward to access. _Think again bright spark. _

As he slipped into the store Bosco paused, waiting a moment whilst his eyes adjusted to the darkness in the store. He had to be careful, there were 2 of them and one of him – he knew they were only kids but that didn't stop them from being vicious or more likely drunk or stoned off their faces. He slid along the wall keeping his eyes peeled for any sign of movement – finally he spotted one of them messing about in a hockey display. The other idiot joined him and once again they began dueling, this time with hockey sticks – they had the forethought to thrown on a football helmet each. _I think it's a little late to avoid loosing a few more brain cells morons. _Bosco thought to himself moving towards them. The two boys quickly grew tired of their game threw their sticks aside and headed in search of something new to play with.

"Yo Turps! Come check this out!" the smaller one called out.

Turps ambled over and let out a gwaffing laugh seeing the smaller skinny kid decked out in gridiron padding complete with two thick black lines drawn under his eyes.

"Dream on Kennedy!"

The skinny kid look offended, "Hey, I could so take you Turp."

"Try it hero!" the other guy egged on.

Bosco rolled his eyes reaching for his radio, "55-David to Central where the hell is my back up this is ridiculous!" He hissed trying to get his point across without being overheard by the bumbling perps.

"Central to 55-David. Back up from sector 11 is en-route, sit tight."

**2:25am Friday**

Another eyeball roll and some mental knuckle cracking and Bosco can to a decision…it was time to end this crap and get back on the road. He stood, taking a breath to shout out at the perps as the smaller guy ran head first at 'Turps'. Bosco cringed as the two boys made contact; the sound was sickening as the smaller guy seemed to bounce off the other one and crash into a display of assorted sporting paraphernalia. He watched the big guy roar with laughter. The smaller kid got up tears stinging his eyes, humiliation burning in his chest. Bosco could only watch as the Kennedy stood to his full height, all 5 foot 4 of him, his face set in fury.

"Don't you dare laugh at me Turp! It's not funny."

"You should have seen you face Ken! That was fucking hilarious!"

"Stop it! Don't laugh at me!" The other kid shrieked.

"Don't get your panties in a twist pansy!"

"I've told you to shut up!" he screamed throwing his football helmet across at Turp, striking his chest solidly.

"You little dipshit, I'll get you for that!" Turps growled lunging forward.

Kennedy made a sudden, unexpected move and everybody in the store froze - Bosco included. Bosco watched in horror as the kid pulled a handgun out of the waistband of his baggy jeans; he cocked the hammer and pointed it in his friends face.

"You always laughing at me! It ain't funny!" Kennedy growled, waving the gun about. Bosco wanted to shout for backup into his radio but Kennedy had moved too close to him, if the kid took another step to his right he would be right on top of Bosco.

"Don't be a dickhead Ken; we were just having some fun."

"I'm not having fun, you insultin' my manhood, you think I'm gonna let you get away wit dat? Huh punk?"

"Punk? I'm gonna whip your pussy ass as soon as you drop that gun. You don't even know how to use the damn thing."

"Don't I?" Kennedy asked taking a step closer to his target his eyes locked on his friend.

The fine hairs on Bosco's neck stood on end, he had to intervene he couldn't stand there doing nothing. He skulked back around the wall moving to approach Kennedy in such a way that his dumb ass friend was behind Bosco. He was nearly there when Turps opened his big fat mouth and taunted his friend again.

"Come on you big pussy, put the damn gun down, lets get the cash an bolt."

"Pussy? I'm a pussy huh?" Kennedy raised the gun and before anyone could blink he fired two quick shots into the ceiling.

"Would a pussy do that huh?" He demanded grinning madly.

Bosco took a deep breath and revealed himself to the two teens. "NYPD! Drop the gun and get down on the ground!" he shouted, pointing his weapon at Kennedy.

"Fuck man it's the police! Look what you done now you fucking pussy!" Turps cursed from behind Bosco.

"I'm not a pussy!" Kennedy shrieked, his voice escalating to a note Bosco hadn't been able to hit since he was about 10.

"Nah you're right, your no pussy man…you know what your doing with that gun. You got some fine skills there but I won't tell you again to put it down." The kid merely glared at Bosco, ignored the barrel of the gun staring him down. "Look, I didn't get into this job to shot kids so you'd better just put the weapon down before you force me to do something we're both going to regret." Bosco could feel the sweat trickle along his brow, the uncomfortable pressure of his Kevlar vest had never seemed so reassuring as it did right now. He was having trouble keeping both boys in his line of sight.

"Yo, kid you stay behind unless you want your buddy here to pop a cap in your ass." Bosco ordered as Turps attempted to move around him.

"This fool ain't gonna do nothing', he's a pussy. You think you a gangsta now huh? Wave a small piece like that about and all a sudden you big time? Nah uh fool. Damned pussy assed punk!"

Bosco turned to Turps miraculously managing to quell the urge to either shoot him or punch him in the face.

"Not helping. Sit your fat ass on the ground. Piss me off again and I'll shoot you myself!" Bosco threatened. "As for you Kennedy – so far all you've done is break and enter, you've made a bit of a mess. You put that gun down you won't get nothing more than a slap on the wrist. They won't send a kid like you to jail…you just need to put the gun down."

Kennedy looked at Bosco his brown eyes hesitant, he didn't want to go to jail but he couldn't chicken out in front of his buddy either. He was looking between Bosco and the front door trying to gauge whether he could make it or not.

"I wouldn't try it kid." Bosco warned him lightly. His gun never wavered, his finger resting lightly against the trigger, his gun was cocked – he would use it if he had too but he was hoping the situation wasn't going to escalate to that but damn he was no negotiator – that was Faith's gig not his. It was at moments like this he realized just how much he took her granted. He was trying to channel the sense of inner calm she brought with her to a situation like this…all he succeeded in doing was getting further pissed off at his shortcomings.

Turps ignored Bosco's earlier warning and moved in front of the officer again and once more began stupidly taunting his gun waving friend.

"This is whack fool, I'm outta here." Turps made an obscene gesture before heading towards the front door.

Kennedy flushed red, furious at his friends mockery of the situation he did the only thing he could think of, he pointed the gun at his friend and fired. Turps let out a howl and slumped to the ground wailing and clutching his thigh.

"You fuckin' shot me!"

Kennedy turned away from his fallen friend glaring at Bosco with glassy eyes the gun pointed squarely at Bosco's chest…

**Uh oh! What happens next?! **

*****The next piece is all written, edited and awaiting publishing but first I wanna hear what you think...****Outbursts, suggestions, criticisms, love, greetings I accept them all heartily... Love Flame xOx**


	6. Sarcasm

**A/N ~ A huge thanks for the reviews and private messages, love you for it! **

*****Special thanks to Sullyfan for sticking with me (you inspired rewrite to include a scene with your fave character here) a****nd to WIWJ for planting a seed. xOx**

* * *

Despite the pounding of his heart against his rib cage, the slow uncomfortable trickle of sweat creeping down his back and the overwhelming urge to run Bosco stayed steadfast, his gaze never left Kennedy's eyes. _This kid might be able to shoot his friend in the ass but it's a different ballgame shooting when they're staring you in the face. _Bosco thought to himself, working on maintaining his Zen exterior…this wasn't a situation that he fell into every day. Sure it was a possibility every time he put on his uniform to serve and protect there was a chance he'd be killed performing the job he loved. Nor was this wasn't the first time Bosco had had a gun pointed at him but it was never expected and no matter what the veterans said, it never got any easier, you just compartmentalized better. Bosco took a slow controlled breath, his finger tightening on his Glock's trigger ever so slightly.

"Kennedy, you need to put the gun down – now." Bosco instructed, his voice even, calm reassuring – he wasn't sure how he managed to make it sound so he was truly panicked inside.

_Of all the stupid things you gotta go and do today Bosco, you decide to follow two moron school kids into a sports shop without back up…even after you'd heard the report of shots fired in the vicinity you still went in…what is wrong with you Boscorelli! If you do get shot you'll have no one to blame but your own dumb ass self! Faith isn't here to protect you this time…no one is. You get shot here, you could die with just this punk kid's fat assed friend as your farewell party…Get a grip Bosco CONCENTRATE!_

Bosco began to slowly edge his weight towards Kennedy, he immediately realized the irony of heading closer to the one thing in the room that could kill you…he needed to disarm Kennedy that was the most important issue. He also needed to make sure that his buddy didn't bleed to death while Bosco pissed around with negotiating. He didn't need that in his jacket, didn't need another death on his conscience.

Kennedy stood rooted to the spot, sweat breaking out across his brow, sliding into his eyes. His muddy brown eyes remained locked on the barrel of Bosco's handgun – he was fixated he couldn't look away. If Bosco had backup this would be the moment where they fought the gun away from the pipsqueak but no Bosco had to be the hero today, had to go in with no one to cover his ass. Bosco gave the kid props for having made it this far with out wetting his pants – he'd seen many more career professionals lose it once a cop had them in the crosshairs, this kid didn't even flinch.

_Do I risk tackling him? What are my chances of taking the gun safely? Sure I could over power the little runt, no question about it…I'd just rather do it with out getting shot!_

He settled for once more ordering Kennedy to drop his gun and end the standoff.

"Put the gun down! Kennedy, don't make me shoot you, you little bastard! Put down it now!" Bosco growled moving still closer to the youth.

From the floor below Turps groaned again in agony. He lay on the ground, curled in a fetal position, still clutching his meaty buttocks tightly in his hands – whimpering pathetically blood oozing between his fingers staining the hideous orange carpet crimson. He tried to make eye contact with the police officer, he just wanted to get out of there – if truth be told he just wanted to go home to his Mom.

"Couldn't keep your fat mouth shut could you moron, serves you right getting shot in your fat ass." Bosco spat angrily, momentarily letting his calm demeanor slip and reveal a tiny sample of just how pissed off he was feeling about the whole situation. That one tiny moment was all Kennedy needed – it broke him from his reverie his eyes moved from the barrel of Bosco's gun to the young officer's face. He could see the determined set of Bosco's steely blue eyes, the muscles clenched at his jaw the shallow regular movement of his ribcage. There was nothing else for it now – he'd gone too far…there was no way he could find a way out of this mess now…he clenched his teeth in anger, frustration…in desperation and raised his gun higher determined to end this.

* * *

**2:43am Friday**

Bosco missed the slight movement in Kennedy's demeanor, was completely unaware that the tables had been turned. Had he not caught the sight of flashing blue and red lights out of the corner of his eye and made the stupid mistake of turning his head further to get a better look at who had come to his aid he might have prevented what came next. In those precious few seconds Kennedy made his move. The instant Bosco's eyes left his he sprang forward, his pistol gripped tightly as he raised the weapon and brought it crashing down, smashing the butt of the gun into Bosco's head once – twice with al the force he could muster.

Bosco crumpled, stars bursting in front of his eyes as he crashed side ways into the display of hockey gear. Kennedy watched in horror as blood bloomed from the site, immediately flowing down the fallen officers face, trickling into the collar of his shirt and disappearing. The officer was still, blood trickling, no groaning, not movement - Kennedy couldn't tell if he was even still breathing.

There was nothing left for it now…he'd killed him, he was going to jail just like his father had. His mother was right he truly was a rotten, criminal bastard just like his father. Kennedy, suddenly realizing the magnitude of his actions dropped the gun, bolting towards the side entry to the store, his wet jeans cool against his skin. Between the lack of lighting and the adrenaline coursing through his veins Kennedy never saw who it was the he ran directly into – before he could comprehend what was happening he was face down in the carpet, handcuffs being roughly fitted to his skinny wrists.

Bosco was still sprawled out across the floor, his head pounding, a growing stream of blood soaking slowly into his uniform. He managed to open his eyes as he groaned dazed and some what confused as another officer entered the building casually.

"God damned Bosco, what the hell have you done this time?" A booming, familiar voice sounded from above.

"You took your sweet assed time Sullivan!" Bosco bitched wincing at the feeling of his own voice reverberating inside his head. He touched his head gingerly his fingers came away sticky, he didn't need to look at them to know it was blood. The wetness he could feel at his neck suddenly made more sense. He groaned again, leaning back against the shelving trying to squash the queasy feeling he felt brewing as Sullivan boomed across the airwaves

"55-Charlie to Central, can I get a bus on a rush to Edgerton Sporting goods on West 138th. I have a gunshot victim and an assaulted officer with a head wound." Sully smiled smugly into his mike waiting calmly for a reply.

"Tell me Bosco which kid smacked you in the head – the one with the bullet in his ass or the skinny assed tweaker kid that ran right into Davis?"

Bosco could only muster a glare in reply the throbbing in his head and sudden nauseous feeling the only thing preventing him from getting up and dropping Officer Sully on his spongy ass.

* * *

**3:11am Friday**

Seraphina looked up as a burst of static escaped from the radio. She was bone tired; she'd gotten back on track with her regular obs and medications and was contemplating whether she could disappear for half an hour for a nap when the radio burst to life. She gave it a contemptuous glare…one of these days she'd actually throw the damn thingout into the ambulance bay, but not tonight.

"55-Able to Mercy. We're bringing in two casualties from a B&E. One is a 14 year old male with a non-critical gunshot wound to his ass. The other is a 30 year old officer with a head contusion, suspected concussion, GSC is 11. ETA is about 3 minutes."

"We'll be waiting for you 55-Able." Sera sighed immediately picking up the phone to dial medical imaging to let them know they were going to need an x-ray and possibly a CT scan within 15 minutes. Half sliding half falling off her stool Sera began the process of organizing the ER for her newest victims.

Sera was gloved and gowned waiting in the ambulance bay with two doctors and nurses for 55-Able's arrival. She hung back whilst the first casualty was unloaded, judging from his position on the gurney that had to be the GSW to the butt. She watched as Kim and Carlos helped an officer make his way, albeit a wobbly way, out of the bus. Sera moved forwards with a wheelchair and was met with a scornful glare from Bosco. She said nothing just gestured defiantly at the chair her hands firmly on hips not giving any room for argument.

"Go gotta be kidding me…I'm perfectly fine to walk myself into the ER." Bosco muttered under his breath. Kim looked across at Sera their eyes met and Sera nodded slightly. Kim let go of Bosco, everyone watched as like magic he began to lean heavily to the left without her support – Kim waited until just before he lost his balance before righting him again. She helped Bosco forwards into the awaiting chair. "Right, I knew you'd see things my way." Sera grinned behind Bosco's head as she wheeled him inside.

* * *

**3:37am Friday**

"Well Officer Boscorelli you'll be happy to know that you don't have a skull fracture – however you do have a nasty concussion. We're gonna need you to stay in for a few hours to keep an eye on you, make sure your condition doesn't deteriorate." Dr Tasan broke the happy news to Bosco quickly waving about an x-ray film and smiling broadly before waltzing back out of the room. Sera looked across at Bosco knowing he was still quite dazed. He'd managed to sit perfectly still and allowed her to clean his head wound without any fuss and minimal swearing. Sera was certain this wasn't usual behavior for him.

"Hey, how you doing there Bosco?" she asked him quietly turning off the main light, leaving the room as dimmed as possible.

"I've got the worst headache." Bosco groaned. Leaning back against the pillows, as much as he wanted to fight to be allowed to go home he just didn't have the energy for it. Sera handed Bosco a small tumbler of water and two white pills.

"These are going to help with the pain." She promised watching to make sure he swallowed the pills before making a note in his chart. "Maybe you should take off your Kevlar, you're gonna be here for the next few hours, you might as well get comfortable."

Bosco tried to nod but stopped quickly. Sera let out a small chuckle before gripping Bosco's head gently in her hands keeping it still. Bosco closed his eyes and groaned in agony.

"Keep that up and you'll make yourself nauseous." Sera warned him. Without waiting to be asked she removed his radio and utility belt, helped get him out of his uniform shirt and Kevlar vest which she placed in a neat pile on the chair beside the bed. Bosco tried to give her a grateful smile which in reality looked more like a grimace as he kicked his shoes off and slid under the thin hospital blanket.

"Do you want me to call anyone for you?"

"Nah, I'm good." Bosco murmured drowsily, the drugs she'd given were working quickly - within a few minutes Bosco was fast asleep.

* * *

"Hey pumpkin. How's super cop in there?" Sully asked gruffly hitching his utility belt. Seraphina looked at him twice, he hadn't been here when Bosco had brought in she was sure of that.

"Uh, he's gonna be fine."

"At least tell me he's gonna have a splitting headache for the next few days." Sully pleaded wanting for Bosco to be okay but not wanting him to get off without any negative consequences to his unwise actions.

"It's going to feel like he has his own personal jack hammer, hammering away at his skull for a few days but other than that he'll be the same as always."

"Arrogant, cocky little up start that he is great. You can't give him a personality transplant while he's here can ya?"

"No, no we're fresh out sorry. Maybe I could hook you up with a better mood though…You've got to be just about finished with this whole 'cranky at the entire world' deal by now." Sera chided softly. Sully looked down at Sera for a moment, taking in her disheveled appearance, the dark circles beneath her eyes, the coffee stain on the leg of her scrubs and the pen hanging haphazardly from her messy ponytail. His face relaxed into a small smile.

"You doin' okay kid? You look like crap."

"Ah see now there's the Uncle Sully I know & love." She told him sarcastically but trying to catch a glimpse of herself in the glass partition anyway.

"Hey I've spent almost 50 years getting to be how I am now, you've been around for a good deal of that, you should be used to me by now."

"I am, I'm just tired…I get sarcastic when I'm tired." Sera yawned as though to illustrate her point.

"And when you're happy or cranky or hungry or bored or…" Sully trailed off noticing the crabby look Sera was giving him.

"Okay, okay I get the picture! Do I need to kick you out of my ER so I can get some work done?"

"I'm going!"

Sera indulged Sully with a small wave as he moved away from her. With a quick glance at the clock she turned back to her paperwork losing herself in the mundane requirements of her work for a few short minutes. As she turned a page in the file she was working on a heavy shadow fell across the page and the heady aroma of good quality coffee wafted her way. She closed her eyes inhaling deeply waiting for the scent to disappear.

When she opened her eyes she was rewarded with the sight of a takeout coffee cup perched on the counter in front of her. Sera snatched it up taking a slow sip of the scalding fluid – it was hot, Italian and strong just how she liked it. She placed the cup carefully back on the counter and using the bench to lift her weight, lent across it to press a kiss to Sully's full cheek.

"You're welcome kiddo. Take it easy okay." He laughed before heading back out of the hospital.

**

* * *

**

**7: 56am Friday**

Sera was sitting behind the station desk, her eyes not moving from the clock – 4 minutes that's all she had until the shift from hell officially came to an end, 4 minutes until she could happily get home crawl between her Egyptian cotton sheets and pass out for the next eight hours straight. Nothing was stopping her from leaving the building – not flood, fire, MVA nor anything else God or the universe could throw at her, she was getting out of here no questions asked.

"Jasper you look like shit." Dr Tasan greeted her cheerfully from the far side of the desk. He leant in towards her, his fingers toying with an errant curl from her ponytail twirling it carelessly around his long finger. He got perverse enjoyment out of the annoyed glare Sera threw him.

"Yes well unlike you I don't get to just wander off to the on-call room and grab an hours sleep – no I'm tireless soldier dealing with vitals and vomit and blood and other bodily fluids I don't feel the need to mention this early in the morning. So yes I look like shit but unlike you in four, no sorry three minutes I get to go home crawl into my bed and collapse. You still have how many hours left? 15? Oh poor baby." Sera laughed heartily giving the handsome doctor's chiseled cheek a gentle pat. Tasan feigned a pout before passing her a file.

"Before you head off can you discharge Officer Boscorelli please? His GSC is back up to 15, he's had no further visual disturbances or nausea and vomiting so he's good to go. Just make sure he gets someone to collect him and keep an eye on him for the next few hours."

Sear groaned but took the file, "Only because you asked so nicely – you said please and everything."

"You think I was actually asking?" He teased dropping a kiss to her cheek.

"You want some company in that big old bed of yours later?" he offered, his lips skimming the tender skin of her cheek.

"A booty call? You old charmer Josh." She laughed softly not caring who in the ER could see her flirting. She pulled away slowly, purposefully not answering his question before moving away to discharge her patient.

"A little less of the old thanks Nurse." He chastised watching her hips sway as she walked down the hall.

* * *

Sera walked into exam cubicle 5 and found Bosco sitting up on the edge of the bed rubbing his face vigorously, his jaw lightly stubbled, his hair disheveled.

"Good morning Officer. How are you feeling?" She asked brightly.

"Like some punk assed kid cold cocked me with a pistol."

"That could possibly be because that's actually what happened." She laughed reaching over to grasp his wrist gently. Her fingers swiftly found his radial pulse which she measured before reaching for her penlight and checking his pupils one final time.

"I've got good news for you Boscorelli – apparently you've done no major damage to that hard head of yours. Dr Tasan has decided you can go home…on one condition."

"I'm not going to like this am I?"

"You need someone to come and collect you and keep an eye on you for the next few hours."

"What?!"

"It's either that or you get to stay in until this afternoon. Personally I'd go home, they're serving the strange yellow jello today." She shuddered comically.

Bosco sat on the edge of the bed pouting for a long moment – he wanted to go home but he didn't really have anyone to call. There was no way he was calling his mother – he'd never hear the end of it…Faith was at home with Charlie, there was no way Sully would pick up the phone - Davis might but Bosco really wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone else right now. Suddenly he looked across at Sera a brilliant idea forming.

"What are you up to for the next few hours Sera?" he asked, his blue eyes pleading. Sera suppressed a giggle.

"Sorry Bosco, that's cheating…I'm your nurse only when you're actually inside the building. Besides I have a dress fitting this morning so unless you wanna tag along to that and get dragged through a dozen boutiques today…" Sera trailed off knowing Bosco wouldn't go for that.

"Can you call Faith for me…Officer Yokas, I have her number here." He passed Sera the scrap of paper watching as she headed out to the station to call.

**8:17am Friday**

"Sorry it took me so long to get here! What the hell has he done to himself now?" Faith asked to no one in particular as she strode straight into Bosco's room. She took one look at the dressing haphazardly stuck to the side of his head and clucked her tongue in motherly fashion.

"I leave you alone for one shift Boz, one measly shift…eight hours and you manage to get yourself a head wound. I tell you I can't take my eyes off you for a second!" Faith ranted as she gripped Bosco's head checking him over herself as if to ensure that the medical team hadn't missed anything. Bosco scowled at her crankily.

"Hey, it's not like I asked for this to happen. Do you mind keeping your voice down, my skull is pounding." He whined. Faith rolled her eyes heavily throwing a knowing glance at Seraphina.

"Has he been a pain in the ass all night? Don't answer that, there's really no need – of course he has. Come on Boz, I suppose we'd better stop by the station house and sign back in your crap – I picked you up a change of clothes, you can shower back at my place."

"I need to run through a list of symptoms you need to be aware of before you go – just incase something shows up later." Sera interrupted halting Faith's attempt to exit.

"Disturbed vision, excessive bleeding, auditory disturbance, loss of consciousness, disturbed motor movements, slurred speech…" Faith listed without missing a beat.

"Let's not forget my favorites the nausea and vomiting." Bosco interjected.

"We've done this before." Faith pointed out.

Sera actually did laugh that time handing Bosco a discharge form and a pen. He signed handing it to Faith so she could also sign. She flicked through the paperwork handing Bosco his copies of the relevant forms plus his prescription for pain relief.

"Take it easy Bosco, I've already told you I don't wanna see you back in my E.R." she turned to Faith. "Bring him straight back to the ER if anything hinky happens."

"It's Boz, hinky follows him around like a bad smell."

"No Faith that's KINKY…Kinky follows me around…"

"Can I leave him here?" Faith asked her voice already tainted with annoyance.

"Nah you just signed him out – you'd have to go and come back again."

"Come on wonder-cop, lets get outta here."

* * *

Sera headed straight to the locker room to change out of her scrubs into whatever she had lurking in the bottom of her locker – turned out to be a bit of a grungy outfit jeans and a crumpled baby tee along with her favorite Jesus sandals. She scraped her hair back into a haphazard pony tail before sitting on the sofa in the nurse's lounge to tie her shoes on properly. She rested her head back on the sofa and before she knew it she was fast asleep catching some much need rest.

**9:29am Friday**

Sera woke with a start she glanced at her watch swearing loudly, "Oh crap! I'm late…Hailz is going to kill me!" she flew out of the building waving like a mad woman trying to hail a cab. She reached into her pocket for her cell to call Haylee to let her know she was on her way before she realized her cell was inside her locker, back inside the hospital… "Ah fuck it, she'll just have to deal." Sera resigned as her cab flew towards the first boutique on her list.

**10:01am Friday**

"Are you kidding me…basically you were late this morning because you decided to have a little grandma nap after you tied your shoes? What kind of an excuse is that?"

"Did you miss the rest of my woeful tale? Did you just have a 'nanna nap' part way through?" Sera demanded indignantly. She hadn't slept in 24 hours and her best friend was giving her sass.

"Chill out kiddo, I'm only kidding. Let's get cracking hey?" Haylee strode over to the rack of dresses flicking through them discarding some perfectly nice dresses Seraphina would have been more than happy to wear.

"Oh how pretty! What about this one?" Haylee asked pulling out what had to be the most hideous dress in the entire history of the boutique. It was fluorescent orange with a drop waist, fell below the knee and was trimmed with feathers and gaudy sequins.

"Honey the eighties called they want their hideous frock back…" Sera laughed but stopped on seeing the look on Haylee's face, her bottom lip quivered slightly her eyes grew glassy…

"You don't like it? I think it's beautiful." Haylee whispered softly turning away from Sera slightly.

"There is no way on God's green earth that I'm wearing that dress Hailz…you'd have to give me a severe concussion to even contemplate trying it on…I'm sorry sweetie but no."

Sera was beginning to wonder if she had over stepped the mark, this was supposed to be fun – she knew that Hailz wanted the whole frou-frou wedding deal. She had seen Haylee's dress already she was going to look like a fairy princess…well maybe what a fairy princess looked like once she'd fallen into a fresh meringue but you get the idea. She decided to try a different track.

"Maybe we should look for something that would suit your dress better..."

Suddenly Haylee burst out into uncontrollable laughter. "You seriously think I'd make you wear this? It's so ugly it's hurting my eyes just looking at it! Honestly Sera get a grip."

"Oh you're so dead when I get the energy to hurt you." Sera threatened half heartedly – here she was panicking that she had actually hurt Haylee's feelings when really she was just being a brat.

"Cheer up sook."

"Bitch." Sera shot back.

"Whore." Haylee countered with a sharp retort.

"Bridezilla." Sera accused effectively ending the parry back and forth as they dissolved into giggles over the other assorted hideous frocks that were lurking in the boutique.

**A/N ~ As always fair readers I'd love to hear your thoughts so please take amoment to leave a review xOx**


	7. Details

**Disclaimer: I still own nothing officially Third Watch, everything else is my own.**

**To my faithful reviewers Sullyfan & WIWJ you ladies seriously rock! Thanks for the love...Enjoy!**

* * *

"Central to 55-David"

"55-David to central go ahead."

"55-David, request you attend a robbery in progress. West 117th."

"55-David to Central, West 117th 10-4."

Faith reached across the dash and flicked on the lights and siren muttering, "It's begun already."

Bosco nodded grimly "It's gonna be one of those days." Although he didn't seem too perturbed about their call out. Before now they'd spent the majority of the shift just cruising. At least now they had some action to keep them going even just for half an hour – it was better than nothing.

Faith gripped her twisted seatbelt as Bosco swerved around a corner sharply throwing him a stern glare which he chose to ignore. So far today his driving had been pretty tame today but even then Faith had the urge to pray that they'd arrive at their call out in one piece, preferably alive. Bosco could feel her glare linger on him longer than usual and taking his eyes of the road returned the favour.

"You got a problem Yokas?"

"You got a death wish?" She bit as he slipped into an impossibly small gap between two other vehicles.

"Not today." He grinned cheekily flicking off the siren as they pulled up on the scene.

Bosco pulled their RMP to a stop out of view from the tobacconist. Both officers exited the car quickly making their way to the building they crouched down on either side of the doorway and peered inside. Bosco could see three people inside; the shop assistant and two customers – he looked across at Faith quickly signally he couldn't see the perps. From her angle Faith could only see the one assistant, and one customer. She picked up a sudden movement in the shadows in the far corner of the shop. Two young guys, about seventeen were arguing; one of them was waving around a cloth moneybag and gesticulating wildly. Faith leant against the wall of the building to see if she could get a better look.

To Bosco she whispered, "I see two of them, no apparent weapons, close to the counter. One assistant behind the counter and one customer just your side of the door."

Bosco nodded, "Okay, I've got the two scumbags, second is moving to the back of the store."

They turned their attention back to the interior of the store before they turned to each other and nodded. Faith reached up to the door handle and rose so that she was nearly standing, just to the right of the door. Noticing some movement within the store, Bosco waved his hand at Faith urgently motioning for her to stop.

Bosco jumped to his feet, ready to move whether he and Faith were going into the building or chasing after the men coming out of the store. Suddenly the door was thrown backwards into Bosco; he faltered but didn't fall. The bigger assailant however ran directly into Faith, and she fell to the ground winded. Bosco found his feet again and started to move towards Faith who was on her hands and knees on the ground gasping raggedly for air.

"Go after them … I'm fine Boz. Go!" She yelled, boaco didn't wait to be told twice, he ran off after the two fleeing thieves.

"Two eighteen year old white males running down East 117, being pursued on foot." Faith yelled into her radio as she got up off the floor and began to run after Bosco and the perps. She'd lost sight of them halfway down the block they' turned down an alley but she couldn't be sure which.

"Bosco where are you?" No reply. _Damn-it this is no time to ignore me Bosco! _

"Bosco? Where are you?" Faith was beginning to panic. There were plenty of side streets they could have gone down, but she didn't want to just pick one and lose them completely.

"Second alley." Came Bosco's breathless static filled response. Faith had already passed one alley so it had to be the next one, turning she narrowly avoided skidding on a patch of wet garbage as she rounded the corner.

Faith bolted into the mouth of the alley in time to see the two perps corner Bosco in the back of the alley. One of the perps started to turn towards the mouth of the alley just as Faith slid behind an evil smelling dumpster. The perp turned back towards Bosco, deciding what to do with him now. Over the shoulder of the smaller perp Bosco could see Faith peering around the corner of the dumpster. She flashed her gun at him, silently asking which one he wanted her to take. Bosco motioned slightly with his hand, gesturing to the larger perp, the one who had knocked her down. Faith started moving silently down the twenty feet that separated her from the perp. Bosco knew that he had to keep their attention on him so that they wouldn't notice Faith sneaking up on them.

"So what do you jag-offs think you're gonna do now? You've cornered me sure, but you heard my partner radio for back up. Are you just gonna stand there waiting till they arrive? Man this will be the easiest arrest I've ever made." Bosco taunted laughing at the guys.

"Pretty hard to arrest us if you're dead, hey amigo." The shorter perp cockily quipped – his eyes were too bright and unfocused; he was obviously high on something.

Bosco knew that Faith had almost reached her target she just needed them distracted a moment later. The larger perp turned to speak to the other, faith stopped stock still not daring to even breathe, her gun cocked and held tightly to her side.

"Detail, I didn't sign on for no cop killin' bro'."

"Did you hear that 'amigo'? Your pal here ain't big on your plans. Give it up so I can bust your ass down to the precinct and then get back to work. You two are wasting my time."

Bosco took a step towards the smaller, stoned perp as he spoke, trying to hold his attention firmly on him. It worked, the perp also moved towards Bosco there was less than a metre between the pair. Faith saw her chance and she took it. She swung her pistol up and firmly pressed the muzzle into the tender skin behind the big guys ear.

"NYPD! Freeze! Both of you!" Faith shouted confidently. The big guy froze in shock his eyes practically bulging out of his head at the feeling of Faith's gun behind his ear. He didn't make a peep and cooperated fully as Faith started to cuff him. Faith's perp was kneeling on the floor, cuffed when she saw the commotion with Bosco. She knocked her perp to the floor lightly. He fell on his shoulder not his face and then rolled onto his stomach as Faith yelled, "Move and I will shot you boy!" The perp lay perfectly still as he nodded his head and replied, "Yes ma'am."

The little guy Detail, pulled something from his jacket and lunged at Bosco but Bosco was just as quick and perhaps more agile than his drugged counter part. Bosco avoided whatever it was that Detail lunged with the first blow but caught a second glancing blow to his right shoulder. He let out a sharp expletive and was till struggling with Detail about eight feet from Faith when they all heard the sirens approaching.

"It's over." Faith yelled over the wailing, "Give it up and I won't let my partner kick your sorry ass!"

Detail again lashed out at Bosco before turning and striking Faith in the face with his closed fist. Bosco's blood boiled. He grabbed Detail by the scruff of his neck and spun him around, punching him once in the face and kneeing him in the stomach before spinning him back around and slamming him down into the cold hard alley pavement. Bosco knelt his whole weight between Detail's shoulders whilst he cuffed him. He looked up from his prisoner in time to see Sully and Davis running down the alley, weapons drawn.

"Everything okay here?" Sully called down the alley.

"You missed the action again boys." Bosco called out sarcastically grinning like an idiot as he practically sat on top of Detail. Faith was standing across the alley shaking her head slightly, attempting to shake off the sting of the right hook she'd just received. She bit down a curse as heat spread through her cheek.

"We're good. This one's ready to go." She said nodding towards her cuffed perp still lying as she had left him.

Sully and Davis holstered their weapons and moved towards Faith's perp. Faith turned to see where Bosco had got to; she caught his eye silently pleading him not to do something stupid. Bosco's jaw clench as Faith's eyes met his – he could see the area where Detail's fist had slammed into her face at great speed. As much as he tried to tamp down his temper he found himself pushing Detail's head roughly into the pavement while he whispered venomously to him.

"You ever hit another woman again, I'll know about it and your life won't be worth living. Have you got me 'Amigo'?" Bosco harshly threatened Detail, giving him one forceful more push before getting off him and jerking him roughly to his feet.

"Was that really necessary?" Davis asked Bosco; his tone implying that he didn't think Bosco's rough treatment was warranted. Bosco's blue eyes flamed in fury.

"This crack-head just assaulted Faith, so yeah it was necessary." Bosco spat angrily.

Davis nodded needing no further evidence that Bosco wasn't acting out of turn. Faith was Bosco's partner, out here on the streets their lives were in each others hands – he knew that if someone tried to rough up Sully, he'd be at the big guys defence before the perp could blink. He and jerked Detail around a bit more roughly grinning mischievously.

"Well in that case, we might just have to take you the long way to the precinct. And if you piss me off I'll let Officer Sullivan have a few moments alone with you. You know he really hates people who beat up on cops, but you wanna know what he hates it worse than that? People beat up on women. You don't wanna let him see you doing that, it's only gonna end in tears and they won't be his."

Detail paled a little as Sully stepped up to him his large bulky frame standing heads and shoulders above the youth, his face twisted into a savage snarl. Davis expected the kid to back off immediately but he actually leant towards Sully still maintaining his cocky attitude. Walking him around the RMP Davis added, "You see my partner hasn't had a good day and he's aching to bust some heads. You wanna piss him off some more go right ahead." Sully barked out a gruff laugh as Ty shoved a rather pale Detail in the back of their RMP.

"Gustler and Price will take the other one?" Sully told Bosco.

"No way Sullivan these are mine and Yokas' collars." Bosco spat angrily, the pain in his shoulder pissing him off.

"Look Boscorelli you're bleeding and Faith should get her eye checked out." Sully reasoned ignoring the stab about stealing collars.

"I'll take Faith to get looked at but this ain't my blood." He said staring down at his bloodied hands, "The little shit bled all over me." Bosco bitched

Faith appeared beside Bosco, her hand coming to rest on his shoulder.

"Well you did break his nose Boz." She pointed out watching as he flinched at her touch. Faith pulled her hand away, wet blood smearing across her palm and seeping between her fingers. She looked at Bosco with disbelief – when had he gotten injured?

"Wait a second Bosco, let me have a look. Come on, hold still you baby." Faith tugged Bosco's sleeve this way and that before pulling at his collar to expose his shoulder and saw that a large gash across the top of his bicep. Bosco looked down at her with a hangdog expression, hating the worried look she was giving him.

"He had a box cutter." Bosco admitted trying to shrug but wincing in pain instead. Faith shook her head, marvelling at Bosco's stupidity taking on a doped up thief.

"Come on I'll take you to Mercy and get them to fix you up."

* * *

As soon as the got to Mercy, Nurse Proctor bound across the ER floor and glared at the both of them and shaking her head in dismay.

"My two best customers back…Again." She clucked her tongue impatiently. "Come on I've only got one exam room free so you'll have to share." Proctor led them inside the curtained cubicle quickly looking them over to make sure there was no severe damage. She handed Bosco a fresh pack of gauze instructing him to apply constant pressure, she threw a cold pack across at Faith and gestured to her eye. "Now you two play nice you hear! No fighting!" Proctor ordered as she left the room to go in search of a doctor.

As Faith turned to face Bosco she folded her free arm across her chest and he knew exactly what she was going to say, but he let her start anyway.

"Boz what you did today was incredibly…"

"Stupid, immature, reckless. You know I get this speech from you all the time Faith."

"You thin maybe on day you might actually pay attention to my bitching and moaning?"

"Maybe…" he joked lightly.

"Maybe?! I should sit you on your ass myself Boz!" Faith threatened exasperated.

Bosco sheepishly looked across at Faith standing next to the bed he sat on, there was a dark purple stain beginning to spread beneath her right eye. Faith reached out to Bosco and rested her hand gently on his uninjured shoulder. Her gesture comforting and motherly.

"You could have got hurt a lot worse than you did today Boz. Don't keep treating me like I'm made of glass. I'm a big girl, I can handle myself. That's why they gave me a badge too." Bosco put his hand over Faith's hand squeezing gently taking his time before he met her eyes again.

"I know that, I do Yokas. It's just that when I saw him take the box cutter and you were behind the dumpster ready to run in. I had this image of him cutting you bad and I couldn't let you get hurt." Boz hung his head and looked at Faith's hand in his.

At that instant, Faith entwined her fingers into Bosco's and gave them a reassuring squeeze. Bosco looked back into Faith's face and mumbled, "I 'spose I didn't do a good job did I, he still hurt you."

Faith took a step closer to him and squeezed his hand again. "You did good today Bosco. You did good." She got up on the bed sitting right next to him she bumped against him gently. He sat still and for a moment Faith thought that he would push her away, she knew Bosco wasn't the world's most affectionate person at the best of times but he occasionally let her comfort him. To her surprise he wrapped his uninjured arm around her shoulders and gave her a firm squeeze. Faith relaxed against him and whispered to him again, "You did good today Boz."

A moment later Dr Tasan walked in and Bosco removed his arm from his partner's shoulder. "Officer Boscorelli I see you're back again. What have you got for me this time?" Tasan asked him brightly. Once Bosco had grudgingly explained he'd been cut across the shoulder, Tasan had him remove his shirt so that he could examine the wound more easily, he cleaned it and covered it with a gauze bandage.

"You are lucky you don't need stitches but you still need a tetanus shot. Nurse Proctor can sort that out for you while I check Officer Yokas out." Faith laughed lightly as she heard Bosco mumble under his breath, "Lucky my ass."

Procter turned her nose up at Bosco. "I have seen more than enough of your lily white ass Boscorelli." She lead him out into another cubicle demanding he 'drop em' so she could give him the shot. Faith suppressed a laugh hearing his curse as the needle pierced his skin.

Dr Tasan removed from Faith's eye the ice pack that Proctor had given her. Faith's right eye looked like half an eggplant had been squashed over her cheek. Dr Tasan gently probed Faith's face, his slender fingers tenderly checking for fractures to her cheekbone. He frowned at her sternly, "You were lucky Faith you haven't broken anything but the swelling is just beginning. This will be a beauty in the morning." Faith nodded softly she could feel a monster headache building behind her eye. "It may swell shut but all you can do is ice it and rest. Take some Tylenol to take the edge off the pain." Dr Tasan continued.

"I heard you two were here again. Anything major this time?" Sera asked seriously leaning over the nurse's station to grab a patient file. Bosco and Faith both flashed their injuries at her causing her to laugh heartily.

"Somebody's got to teach you how to either duck or block girl. That looks awful." She chided looking closely at the bruise blooming on Faith's cheek.

"So what you're saying is that purple just isn't my colour?" Faith asked sardonically. Seraphina laughed harder and Faith swatted her half-heartedly.

"That's exactly what I'm saying. Try to stay outta trouble out there okay." She called out moving swiftly down the corridor back to her waiting patient.

Bosco and Yokas had barely returned to the precinct house when Captain Swersky bellowed out their names, beckoning them up to his office. As they sat waiting outside his office, Bosco started fidgeting restlessly.

"He probably just wants to know what happened out there today." Faith said soothingly, placing her hand on Bosco's tense forearm.

He shook his head dejectedly, "No, he wants to assess the damage and then chew me out for being heavy with that doped up little scumbag." Bosco was getting really agitated, Faith could feel the tension rolling off him in waves, could see it in the way his jaw clenched and the muscle of his forearm twitched uncontrollably. Faith tenderly rubbed his arm, trying to calm down.

Bosco hung his head, "What was I supposed to do? Let him hit you again? No way. I did what I had to."

Bosco looked at Faith, his eyes full of conviction. She knew he'd done the right thing but before she could say anything to try to ease his temper, Captain Swersky ordered them into his office.

"Does somebody wanna tell me what the hell happened out there today?" he asked his voice calm, his face unreadable. Bosco and Faith both spoke at the same time but Faith took a step forward and raised her voice above Bosco's until he shut up. She recapped what happened, playing down Bosco's arrest of Detail. Swersky nodded once she'd finished and stepped back in line with Bosco.

"You know that Detail was responsible for a spate of burglaries in the 6-3?" He began, still speaking calmly, his voice low. "Their captain is grateful for your help, apparently he's quite a pain in the ass over there." The captain paused as if deciding what to say next.

Bosco physically tensed next to Faith and she could tell he was getting ready to defend himself against what he thought was coming next. Faith wanted to grab him, reassure him that he did the right thing but she couldn't so instead she settled for looking at him pleadingly. Her eyes were imploring him _Don't make a scene Bosco. Don't make this worse than it has to be._

Finally Swersky sighed, "Nice bust today kids. And Bosco…" He turned to face the young officer and Bosco's clenched jaw went into overdrive, he opened his mouth to protest what Swersky had yet to say but was silenced by the looks both Faith and Swersky shot at him. "You showed good control today. I can see that you assessed the situation and handled it well. You protected your partner and got Detail. I'm impressed." Bosco looked ultimately confused but he visibly relaxed. _The Captain is praising me? That's gotta be a first._ Swersky walked in front of Bosco and lowered his voice conspiratorially, "I would have done the same in your position." He said nodding as he reached behind Bosco to open the door.

* * *

"I didn't mean for you to get hurt today." Bosco looked across at Faith cautiously, expecting her to finally be angry with him. It was after shift had finished, they were standing out front of the station house. Bosco had his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans, his jacket zipped up against the chilly late autumn breeze. Faith indulged him in a sincere grin as she reached out and tugged on his scarf.

"I could have been much worse Boz, but this time it wasn't. It couldn't be helped. However, I can't say I'm too impressed with the week of desk duty I've got to do because of this eye." She swatted him with his own scarf and laughed. Bosco grinned back.

"Want me to drive you home?" he asked.

Faith looked slightly disappointed, "I already rang Fred, he's on his way." Bosco nodded waiting around with her until Fred arrived. He was so grateful that Faith had only received a black eye from today – he knew it could have been much worse; exactly how bad he shuddered to imagine. He pulled nudged Faith again, relieved that she was okay. As if sensing his thoughts, Faith looked up at him, bumped him with her hip and said, "You did good today."

Bosco beamed cheekily "Nah, we did good today Yokas. We did good."

* * *

**A/N So readers what did you think? Stop by the review page and leave me some love or something... xOx**


End file.
